The Walking Dead: World Beyond Clue You Likely Missed In The Walking Dead Season 1
Turning comic book series into television shows isn't anything new, but "The Walking Dead" takes it to another level with the amount of horror and gore involved in each episode of the long-running AMC series. None of that appears to bother too many viewers, though, as the show has seen unbelievable amounts of success over its time on the air. Starting in 2010, the series is expected to come to a close in 2022 (via TVLine). While this may be sad for some, there have been a few spin-off shows released like "Fear The Walking Dead" and "The Walking Dead: World Beyond," along with several other shows and movies that have been announced in recent months (via Entertainment Weekly).
"The Walking Dead" spin-off shows are all tied into the same universe that we've been experiencing with Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) and the other survivors from the start. This means that there's a strong possibility of finding connections between each series. When a show's been on for as long as "The Walking Dead," there are bound to be some very detail-oriented fans who connect the smallest of dots, even going all the way back to the very first season. This is what happened when a pivotal moment from "The Walking Dead" Season 1 was connected to an important scene in "The Walking Dead: World Beyond."
Dr. Jenner at the CDC might have mentioned how the outbreak started
In "The Walking Dead: World Beyond" Season 2, Episode 10 ("The Last Night"), a post-credit scene reveals that something done by the living might have caused the world's flesh-eating zombie issue. In the scene, a woman is in an abandoned laboratory watching a transmission from a familiar face, Dr. Edwin Jenner (Noah Emmerich), who fans of "The Walking Dead" will remember from Season 1, Episode 6 ("TS-19") of the original series.
In his video message, Dr. Jenner desperately attempts to explain his research into the cause of the virus. Unfortunately, the message is interrupted when a man walks in and begins to hold the woman at gunpoint. Before shooting the woman, the man says, "You started this ... Then, you made it worse." He then departs the building, but he allows Dr. Jenner's video to continue playing. "I want to know more about these variant cohorts you referred to in our last communication," Dr. Jenner says. "We haven't seen anything like that here at all, nothing close."
One user on Reddit pointed out that viewers have been given a hint about this information once before. U/TeekayJames wrote, "It occurred to me how Dr. Jenner told us where the pathogen originated in TWD Season 1, but none of us caught on." In this sentence, this user is referring to a small amount of dialog in Dr. Jenner's final appearance in "The Walking Dead." When Rick's group of survivors escape the impending destruction of the CDC, Dr. Jenner tells Andrea (Laurie Holden), "It was the French," before telling her that the French were the last to lose connection. Notably, Dr. Jenner's answer to Andrea's accusation that he has no idea what caused the outbreak is finally leading to interesting answers all these years later.
Unique variants of walkers appear much more deadly
Interestingly, the timeline of Dr. Jenner's recording is one with which fans are already familiar. The transmission the French woman is watching appears to have been recorded only shortly before Rick and the rest of the survivors show up at the CDC. Notably, Dr. Jenner also mentions his wife, a character unseen in the original "Walking Dead" series, who tragically succumbs to the zombie virus prior to Rick's arrival.
However, there is one last significant reveal left in this scene. After the French woman is killed, there are a few signs that point to the variants Dr. Jenner mentioned in his message. Not only does the woman come back to life as a zombie very quickly, but she also appears to utilize some unexpected capabilities in her undead arsenal, including an increase in speed.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, "The Walking Dead" Chief Content Officer Scott Gimple was asked about the decision to show the French lab. He responded, "It has more of a relationship to the greater 'Walking Dead' universe than it does directly to 'World Beyond,' but it's a peek into a story that we will tell." When asked to expand on the walker's apparent speed and new abilities, Gimple responded, "I mean it's a fair takeaway of the scene. But it's not the end state of the Walker. And I'm not saying that death is the end state of a walker."
As if slow zombies aren't bad enough, a group of running, flesh-eating corpses with new abilities sounds even more terrifying. Considering the fact that the upcoming Daryl spin-off series is set to take place on the same continent (via Forbes), this makes us worry even more for our favorite crossbow-toting survivor.